Is Food Addiction Real? A New Study May Prove It Is

What is it about chocolate that makes it so hard to stop eating it even if you aren't really hungry? A new study published in the journal Current Biology found that the same mental processes that lead a drug addict to want more and more drugs may also encourage some to overindulge in sweets and high-fat foods.

Researchers at the University of Michigan studied rats' behavior after giving them an unlimited supply of M&Ms. The average rodent ate 10 candies in 20 minutes, and researchers noticed a big spike in levels of enkephalin, a naturally-occurring drug-like chemical that, Smithsonian Magazine reports, "is produced in the brain and binds to the same receptors as many anesthetic or psychoactive drugs."

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Before handing over the candy again, the scientists began a new phase of the study by stimulating the neostriatum region of the brain, which they suspected contributed to cravings, with enkephalin. The rodents ate more than twice as much candy as they did in the first part of the experiment, suggesting that the neostriatum is a big player in the compulsion to overeat and enkephalin spikes may contribute to the compulsion to over-enjoy a substance.

According to the study, the neostriatum part of the brain has previously been "viewed to mediate movement and habits and to respond to learned cues." But research now shows that when this area of the brain is stimulated it can also send a message to "eat now." One researcher, Alexandra DiFeliceantonio, explained to Smithsonian Magazine, "[The rats] don't really stop eating until you take the food away from them."

The researchers concluded that the desire to overeat is closely tied to this part of the brain. Scientists believe this new finding will become useful in the study of obesity and addiction. "The same brain area we tested here is active when obese people see foods and when drug addicts see drug scenes," DiFeliceantonio said.